"Transcranial Doppler Assessment of Cerebral Embolization During Early Anti-thrombotic Therapy After Bioprosthetic Aortic Valve Replacement: Comparison of High-dose Aspirin Versus Warfarin Plus Low-dose Aspirin"

Background:

There are several medications used to prevent blood clotting in patients undergoing surgical replacement of their aortic valves with tissue valves. One of these medications is called warfarin (Coumadin ®) which prevents blood clotting by making the blood "thinner." Another medication is aspirin which prevents the aggregation (clustering) of cells in the blood called platelets. Some clinicians consider that using only aspirin should be enough to protect the patients against the presence of clots in the blood, but others consider that aspirin should be combined with warfarin for better protection. Moreover, physicians express concern over the use of oral anticoagulation due to the possibility of an increased risk of bleeding. The effects of these medications for preventing blood clots traveling to the brain after the surgery are currently unknown. Transcranial doppler ultrasound will be used in these patients to evaluate non-invasively the quantity of fragments of clots circulating in the arteries of the brain. In addition, platelet function will be measured to determine how effective these treatments are for preventing the aggregation of the blood cells called platelets, which may be involved in clot formation.

Objective:

Our purpose is to determine if there is any difference in the counts of cerebral emboli and platelet function between two prophylactic treatments of thrombosis currently used in our institution for the first three months after surgery in these patients: 1) daily use of high-dose aspirin [325 mgs], and 2) the combination of oral Warfarin [target INR 2.0 to 3.0] and low-dose aspirin [81 mg].

Methods: